Animated film has heart and wit

Skip past the lame title and weary Stone Age premise. “The Croods” is the first pleasant surprise of spring, a gorgeous kids’ cartoon with heart and wit, if not exactly a firm grasp of paleontology.

It’s about a family of cavemen and women who have survived, unlike their neighbors, by minimizing risk. But risk is how we grow, how we better our lives and achieve great things. That’s just one of the things the Croods learn as their world turns upside down — literally. Earthquakes and volcanoes do tend to upend a neighborhood.

Daddy Grug, hilariously and sensitively voiced by Nicolas Cage, has just one motto, one he reinforces in their cave as he tells stories and animates his lessons on the cave wall: “Never be NOT afraid.”

They hide in their cave at night, huddled in a dogpile. They only go out to feed. An epic egg hunt (the creatures in their world have more to do with Dr. Seuss than Darwin) that opens the film shows what they have to go through just to eat. They basically invent football (and the way Fox Sports covers it) with this gonzo chase through the high desert.

But Eep has slipped out at night, lured by a strange light. Let’s call it “fire.” She’s also lured by the handsome lad who has fire. Let’s call him “Guy,” given a typical wry and sarcastic turn by Ryan Reynolds.

Guy has a sloth he’s tamed and uses as a belt, named “Belt.” He cooks. You know, because he has fire.